Immigration Debate

It seems the debate on immigration reform has gotten a little lost with all of the scandals that seem to break daily.  I have no intention of losing sight of any of those other topics but immigration reform is moving forward one way or another and I wanted to offer my thoughts.

For those who have not been paying attention, there is a “gang of eight” senators who have worked out some sort of compromise idea, and the notable player in that gang of eight is Senator Marco Rubio.  No offense to the other seven, but clearly without Senator Rubio the gang of eight would be seven senators going nowhere.  Senator Rubio is a Republican and until this issue was considered by most to be a conservative one.  There are plenty of Democrat senators ready and willing to vote for comprehensive immigration reform, but Senator Rubio gives them credibility.  Just recently he has been joined by Senator Kelly Ayotte, also a conservative Republican, which has given comprehensive immigration reform slightly more credibility as a concept.

The bill will probably pass in the senate, but the real struggle will be in the House of Representatives, which is Republican and conservative and pretty much against comprehensive immigration reform.  I have been listening to the chatter on the subject, and what I hear from the right is not so much debate but simply NO.  I don’t hear a lot of ideas on how to fix our immigration problem, except to fix the border first and bold cries of No Amnesty!  I have been trying to turn the conversation from simply No! to asking people on the right to present their ideas.  And if I am asking them to do it, I am duty-bound to present my own.  And I do have some ideas on how to fix the problem, but first I would like to present some points about the nature of the problem.  Since I have a lot of thoughts, I will present bullet points.

·         Not all Illegal immigrants are from Mexico, and they are not all Hispanic.  We tend to think only of Mexicans as being those here illegally, but lots of the folks that we think of as “Mexicans” are actually from central or South America.  Further, there are people from everywhere that are here illegally, including eastern Europeans and the former soviet republics, as well as Asia.

·         Not all illegal immigrants came here illegally.  Many of the people that are not here legally came into the country legally, with proper visas, and simply stayed beyond the time they were to go home.

·         Not everyone came here for the same reason.  Let’s face it, some of the people came here because they are criminals and wanted to engage in criminal behavior in the US.  A small percentage may be the actual terrorists that we fear.  Some came here to take advantage of our generous system of “entitlements”.  But I suspect the majority came here because we have a great country with freedoms and opportunities, and often their home countries, well, suck.  They may be living in totalitarian regimes, they may have to live with violence and drug lords or corrupt governments, or they might just have small children and yearn for a better life for their offspring.

It is unfortunate that the problem is more complex.  If it were simpler and more straightforward we could fix it with slogans, but we cannot.  I for one can picture myself raising a family in a place that is not as wonderful as the US and I would not only want to come here, I would probably break US laws to do so if I had to.  You see I love my kids and breaking US immigration laws would be secondary to their well being and quality of life.

The next question is how do we fix the problem, because there are a large number of people (12 million?) who are here who know they are not here legally.  They are sneaking around, mostly working hard but having to avoid law enforcement while living their lives here, sometimes for decades.  Many do not pay taxes; many (somehow) are receiving benefits and raising children in our schools, and needing medical care and driving, with or without a license.  We have a dysfunctional system and everyone knows it.  Wishing reality were different is irrational.  As I like to say, reality does not care what you think of it, reality just is.  What can we do to correct the dysfunctional system?  I have some thoughts.

·         Border Security   We are all aware that our southern border is not completely secure.  As noted above, that will not solve the problem completely because people come here from many different places and some come here legally.  But we all agree that we need a secure border where we can control who comes into our country.  I am not an expert but I have seen most of the border from Tijuana to Harlingen, from both sides.  The problem is not the same at all points of the border.  Some parts are urban environments where we need to keep the people from sneaking through the fence or tunneling under.  In southern California and Texas’ Big Bend you have mountains I am not sure a sane person would attempt to cross, fence or no. Some parts are flat desert with a fence that seems well patrolled.  And in some parts of Texas it seems like the only barrier is the Rio Grande.  We need complete fencing and good border patrol but it is not as simple as it might sound.

·         Legal Immigration Reform Part of the problem we face is that we have a really screwed up legal immigration system.  It is too complex, it takes too long, and it encourages people to simply come here illegally and skirt the system.  We need to make it easier, simpler, and quicker for good people from other countries to come here legally.

·         Citizenship by birth on American soil We have a law that says if you are born on American soil you are an American citizen.  In my opinion this is misguided and should be repealed.  You should be American if your parents are American or if you go through proper channels to become a naturalized citizen.  That is what other countries do, our rule is unique.

·         A single line for citizenship Some of the proposals I have seen have a special path to citizenship for those who are already here, albeit illegally.  This is not rational or fair.  All people from any country (Mexico) should get in the same line and wait in order for their turn in the process, regardless.  Go to the back of the line, or it is not fair to those who are doing it properly.

·         Penalties We are a nation that believes in the rule of law and if we are going to let people wait here while they are in line for citizenship then we must apply penalties because they broke the law.  There should be vigorous debate about the nature of those penalties, be it fines or whatever.  Regardless of the reasons why you did so, you should not escape penalties for breaking the laws, and certainly should not be rewarded compared to those that followed the rules.

·         Legal Status I do not care what term you apply to it, we need to bring those we are talking about out of the shadows and recognize their status, so we can tax them, monitor them, penalize them, and record their place in the single line for citizenship.  Legal status does not mean permanent residency or citizenship, and it does not guarantee you anything.  But if you want to be part of whatever process then we want to know who you are and if, for example you have committed crimes.  You should pay taxes like the rest of us and this would give us a way to identify you to make sure you pay your penalties and not remain anonymous. This does not entitle you to anything, and would tell a potential employer who you are, rather than encouraging you to fake a social security number.

·         Language and Culture In order to move forward in the process you will need to assimilate with American culture, not insist on retaining your own.  Tests should be given on American history and government in English which you must pass in order to move forward.  We should teach people English and we can help them assimilate, but not cater to those who wish to only speak their native language.

·         Path to Citizenship Just like folks who are following the rules to come here legally from another country, you must satisfy all of the relevant criteria, and go through all of the hoops, just like everyone else.  You must start at the back of the line.  You must pay a penalty for breaking the law.  You cannot be a criminal and should have skills we need.  But if you do all of these things and desire to be an American citizen you should not be prevented from doing so.  Voting rights should be at least ten years away to take away the incentive from politicians to make these people political pawns.

·         Employer Penalties Part of this process must involve punishing employers who hire people without legal status.  If you come out of the shadows and get initial legal status you will be identified and an employer will know your status.  If employers hire people who have not done so, the penalties should be extremely severe.  Bottom line is, you identify yourself or you will not work; and if you hire non-legal workers you get a long jail term.  We should debate what employers should pay theses workers; so they do not drive wages down, but they are already here and working so that should not really change.

And finally there is one more bullet point.  I am setting it aside as, believe it or not; all of the above is trivial compared to the last point.  We can do all of the above but unless we understand and fix the final point all of the above is in vain; it will not work.  In fact, our society must understand the following or we will cease to exist as a viable nation.  So here it is….

·         Rights and Entitlement Reform As for rights, every immigrant already has the same rights as every American.  Congress is in no danger of giving anyone the same rights as Americans.  Our rights, and the rights of poor people from Central America, are inalienable.  They come, as the Declaration of Independence says, from God.  Everyone already has the right to freedom of speech, of freedom of religion, of peaceable assembly.  We acknowledge freedom of the press and your inherent right to pursue your own happiness.  These can be taken away by tyrants or corrupt governments but are not granted by our president or anyone; they are inherent.  What we are often confused about is the difference between rights and so-called entitlements.  In my humble opinion there is no such thing as entitlements.  We are a charitable people who care about our poor and downtrodden.  As Americans we give and give and give to people in need not because they are entitled but because they are in need and we are a generous people.  If we continue to assert that those in need are ENTITLED to our charity, no fences or laws will keep people from coming here for Goodies.  But that is another blog post.